JESUS FACES UP TO HIS FUTURE IN THE WILDERNESS (4:1-11). The most momentous moment of His conscious life to date having taken place, Jesus will now have to face up to what it involves. For having been: · Anointed with the Holy Spirit as set aside for the sacred purpose of bringing in God's salvati... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.' Jesus was ‘led up of the Spirit' into the wilderness. The Spirit knew how important it was that He understood how to approach His future, and guided Him to find a quiet place. ‘Led up' suggests that leaving the Jo... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he afterward hungered.' Throughout His forty days and nights, (that is, for over a moon period), Jesus fasted, His body weakened but His spirit intensified, and during it He prayed and thought and planned, and during it He was conscious of thought... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And the tempter came and said to him, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” ' Then He became conscious of a malevolent presence, probably speaking in His mind. For forty days and nights He had been considering the significance of the words at His baptism, and now cam... [ Continue Reading ]
‘But he answered and said, “It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” ' But Jesus searched the Scriptures in His mind, especially conscious that He was in the wilderness as His people had once been, and no doubt guided by the Spirit,... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Then the devil takes him into the holy city; and he set him on the pinnacle of the temple,' But now His thoughts were turned again towards the question of success in His mission. How was He to gain the support of the Temple, and the Temple authorities. How was He to obtain the attention of the Teac... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And says to him, “If You are the Son of God, cast yourself down, for it is written, ‘He will give his angels charge concerning you,' and, ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest it happen that you dash your foot against a stone'.” ' So Satan again approached His mind with a suggestion, taking... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, You shall not make trial of the Lord your God.” ' But Jesus again drew on the reserves of Scripture, this time found in Deuteronomy 6:16. His years of careful study of the Scriptures was standing Him in good stead. And He declared, “Again it is written, You... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Again, the devil takes him to an extremely high mountain, and shows him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them.' Matthew then describes last the temptation that centred on what he has described in the previous Chapter s, the kingship of Jesus. In vision, or in His mind's eye, Satan t... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And he said to him, “All these things will I give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” ' Then the Devil assured Him that if only He would submit to him and his ways, he could show Him how all this could be His by using His powers and winning His way into high favour, on which He would then... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Then Jesus says to him, “Get you from here, Satan, for it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.” For the final time Jesus calls on Scripture (Deuteronomy 6:13). And with it He despatches Satan from Him. Satan had promised Him authority. Now He called on Hi... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Then the devil leaves him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.' And then in obedience to Jesus' dismissal Satan left him (for a while) and angels came and ministered to Him. How they ministered we are not told. Perhaps the imperfect tense ‘were ministering' informs us that their mi... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Now when he heard that John was delivered up (or ‘arrested'), he withdrew into Galilee, and leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the borders of Zebulun and Naphtali.' Note how this geographical description is later paralleled at the end of the passage by furthe... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LIGHT COMMENCES TO SHINE, AND THE MESSIAH PREPARES FOR WORLD CONQUEST THROUGH THE WORD (4:12-22). Having determined His future course Jesus wastes no time in putting it into effect. But the death of John further determines Him to continue His work in Galilee, while His move from Nazareth to Cape... [ Continue Reading ]
‘That it might be fulfilled which was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying,' Note again the emphasis that it is Isaiah's prophecy that is being ‘filled to the full'. And similarly to Luke (in Luke 4:18) he wants us to recognise that here we have the anointed King as described by Isaiah, for in... [ Continue Reading ]
“The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, Toward the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, The people that sat in darkness saw a great light, And to those who sat in the region and shadow of death, To them did light spring up. Matthew's main emphasis in the use of this quotation... [ Continue Reading ]
HIS LIGHT HAVING SHONE ON THEM (4:16) HIS DISCIPLES ARE TO BE THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD. In Matthew 4:16 a great light was seen as having come into the world in Jesus Christ, and as having shone on Galilee, revealing God and Himself to the people. Now the disciples are to recognise that they have a si... [ Continue Reading ]
‘From that time began Jesus to preach, and to say, “Repent you, for the Kingly Rule of heaven is at hand.” ' From that time.' That is from the time of John's imprisonment, which provided Jesus with the opportunity and necessity of establishing His own ministry. What must have seemed a disaster for... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And walking by the sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen.' Jesus knew, of course, where to look for the ones whom He was about to call for He knew that they were fishermen and lived in Capernaum, h... [ Continue Reading ]
JESUS BEGINS TO ESTABLISH THE BASIS OF HIS NEW COMMUNITY (4:18-22). Jesus' plan for the future now begins to unfold. He begins to call men to follow Him, men whom He can instruct and train, with the intention of them becoming ‘fishers of men'. He already has in mind His new community (His congregat... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And he says to them, “You come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.” ' So Jesus approached them and called them to leave everything and follow Him. Once they had done so, He promised, He would make them ‘fishers of men'. All knew what He meant. He was calling them to a long term commitmen... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And they immediately left the nets, and followed him.' The response is seen to be brief and to the point. They _immediately_ left their nets and followed Him. They needed no second bidding. From now on their lives would be dedicated to His service, and their nets would be left to others. Fishing... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them.' With His two new disciples following him He then walked further along the shore and came to where two other brothers wer... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And they immediately left the boat and their father, and followed him.' Responding to the same voice of authority they left their boat and their father and followed Him. So whether it was nets, boats or family, all had to take second place to Jesus. Thus was revealed that there was a shout of a ki... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And Jesus went about in all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the good news of the Kingly Rule, and healing all manner of disease and all manner of sickness among the people.' In the chiasmus above this parallels His proclamation concerning the need to repent because of the prese... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LIGHT BEGINS TO SHINE THROUGHOUT ALL GALILEE, AND EVEN BEYOND (4:23-25). From now on a great work of the Spirit commences throughout all Galilee, as Jesus goes about teaching in their synagogues, preaching the Good News of the Kingly Rule of Heaven, and healing all manner of diseases and sickne... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And the report about him went forth into all Syria, and they brought to him all who were sick, gripped with many various diseases and torments, possessed with demons, and epileptic, and palsied, and he healed them.' In the chiasmus this parallels the shining forth of the great light. The mention of... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And there followed him great crowds from Galilee and Decapolis and Jerusalem and Judaea and from beyond the Jordan.' And soon great crowds had gathered coming from far afield. They came from all over Galilee, from Decapolis, on the other side of the Sea of Galilee, and from Jerusalem and Judaea to... [ Continue Reading ]